BOUGAINVILLE (Hyacinthe-Yves-Philippe Potentien,... Lot n° 18

Picturesque album of the frigate La Thétis and the corvette l'Espérance. Paris, Bulla, 1828. In-folio of (2) ff. (false title and title decorated with a small vignette), 44 pp., 28 plates without text, green maroquined half-basane, spine decorated with gilt and cold fillets, green calf title piece (contemporary binding). Superb and rare album illustrating the important voyage around the world made from March 1824 to June 1826 by Baron Hyacinthe de Bougainville, son of the famous Louis-Antoine, the first French circumnavigator. It contains 35 very beautiful lithographic views of the regions visited, including seven large vignettes in the text and 28 plates without text, including Bourbon Island, Pondicherry, Singapore, the Philippines, Sidney, Chile and Brazil. In the absence of an official draughtsman, these representations, due to the pencil of Viscount Edmond de la Touanne, ship's lieutenant in the expedition, are the only pictorial record of the voyage. Interpreted by various artists under the direction of La Touanne, they are here published with an explanatory text nine years before the official report of the voyage. A fine copy of the deluxe edition with all the figures, in and out of text, printed on mounted China paper. These copies, says Brunet, were sold twice as many as the ordinary copies. Traces of wear and restoration on the spine; very slight reddening on a few pages of text. Sabin, 6874; Ferguson, 1204.